Dumping-car.



No. 7|6,u75. 'Patented Dec. la, |902'. o. w. MEI-sanas.

DUMPING CAB.

(Apphcatmn led. Sept. 8, 1902.)

3 Sheets-Shee 3.

- UNITED Es OTTO W. MEISSNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOISpASSIGrNOR TO THERODGER BALLAST CAR COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OFILLINOIS.

oUMPlNe-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 716,075, dated December16, 1902.

Application liled September 8,1902. Serial No. 122,526. (No model.) A

to with Winding-shaft and chain mechanism connected therewith,Winding-lever mechanism, means for locking the doors in closed position,and means for limiting and regulating the speed at which such doors areopened I and stopping them at any desired position.

It relates particularly to the means for closing and'controlling thedumping-doors, locking them in closed position, and stopping them at anydesired point.

for closing and controlling theopening of the dumping-doors and forstopping them at any desired point, whereby slamming of the doors,

to the injury of the car, is avoided and the` depositing of the load ata greater or less dis-` tance from the center of the car, as desired, ispermitted.

Myinvention consists principally in a dump- 3o ing-car havingdumping-doors and a winding-V shaft provided with chain mechanismconnected with each of such dumping-doors, ratchet-wheelmechanismmounted upon such'- shaft, a Winding-lever, and pallet-levermechanism in engagement with the ratchet-Wheel'.

mechanism of the shaftfor regnlatingand controlling the rotation oftheshaft, and thereby the dumping-door.

The invention consists, further, in a dumpi 4o lng-car having dumping-doors, winding-shaft i and chain mechanism in connection withsuchdumping-doors, ratchet-wheel mechanism uponsuch winding-shafts,pallet-lever mechanism in engagement with the ratchet- Wheels of theshaft andprovidedwith a detentlever arm, and means for lockingthedetentlever arm, and thereby the winding-shaft, so

as to hold the door in any desired position.

Theinvention consists, further, and finally,

5o in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereindescribed and claimed.

The principal objectot the invention is to' provide a dumping-car havingsuitable means In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a broken sideelevation of a car constructed in accordance with my improvements; Fig.2, an end View in sectional elevation, taken on line 2 of Fig. l,looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig. 3, a broken end View showingthe winding and lever mechanism; Fig. 4, a detail plan view showing theratchet-wheel mechanism and winding and detent-lever mechanism; and Fig.5 a sectional detail plan view taken on line 5 of Fig. 3.

In constructing a dumping-car in accordance with my improvements Iprovide a carframe o., consisting of upright side frame portions l), endframe portions c, resting upon longitudinal sills d and e and transversesills f, and provided with a bottom portion g, whichV may be inclineddownward and outward from the center of the car, as shown in Fig. 2. Ateach end of the lower edges 7L of the inclined bottom is mounted aswinging dumping-door t', which is preferably hinged to the longitudinalsills e by means of hinges In order-to provide means for closing suchdoors and holding them in closed position, winding-shafts 7c arerotatably mounted in the car-frame above the outer edges of such doorsand provided with chains Z, Wound thereon and connected with theswinging ends m of the dumping-door by means of eyebolts n and nuts o.To protect the windingshaft and chain mechanism and keep it at 'alltimes in condition to act freely and efliciently, inner boXings p areprovided, which extend along the sides of the car and form aseparating-partition between the windingshaf't and chain mechanism andthe space for containing the load. These boxings are braced and heldrigidly in position by means 'of metallic braces q and r.

It is very desirable in a dumping-car that means be provided forregulating and gov- "erning the speed at which the dumping-doors `areopened and for stopping suchdoors at any desired point, thus enablingthe loadto be dumped at a considerable distance from the center of thecar by stopping the doorat the desired point of incline or near to thecenter by permitting the door to swing farther down, as circumstancesmay require. In order to accomplish these purposes, I `pro- ICO vide apair of ratchet-wheels s and t, which are mounted upon the projectingends u of the winding-shafts and in fixed relation to such shaft. 1 Awinding-lever c is rotatably mounted upon each shaft between suchratchet-wheels and provided with a pawl w,

\ adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchetwheel t in whatever positionsuch windinglever arm may be. By this arrangement it will be readilyseen that the winding-lever, and thereby the winding-shaft, may beoperated at any desired point in the path of rotation of such lever, sothat it may readily accommodate itself to the position of the open ator,whether he be upon the 4ground or upon the car. Pallet-levers l and 2are provided, having pallets 3 and 4, adapted to alternately engage theteeth of the ratchet-wheel s. These pallet-levers are vibratinglymounted upon the end frame of the car upon pivots 5 by means of clips 6,which are rigidly attached to the end of the car by meansof bolts 7 orin any ordinary and well-known manner. A

detent-lever arm 8, which I make, preferably,

integral with the pallet-levers, extends outward therefrom, and aguiding-clip 9 is also provided, within which such detent-lever arm isslidingly and Vibratingly mounted. A locking-pawl 10 is rotatablymounted within such guiding-clip upon a pivot ll, which may also serveto hold one end of the clip in position, the opposite end being held inposition by means of a bolt l2 or in any ordinary and well-known manner.The locking-pawl is provided with a perforation 13, by means of which itmay be readily moved into and out of locking position, and is alsoprovided with a cam-surface 14, adapted to contact the detent-lever arm.when in locked position and be thrown up and out of contact therewithwhen such lever-arm is released.

The teeth of the ratchet-wheel s are pitched at such an incline that thepallets wiil readily slide or vibrate into and out of their path ofrotation alternately as the winding-shaft is rotated in the directionnecessary to wind up the chain and close the door, and thepivotal pointof the pallet-lever mechanism is 1ocated in such relationto theratchet-wheel that the weight of;` the detent-lever arm willautomatically throw the lower pallet into contact with the ratchet-teethat such an angle as' to lock the shaft and prevent the unwinding of thechain and the opening of the door. By raising the arm the oppositepallet is thrown into and the lower one out of contact with theratchet-teeth, and so on alternately. By this arrangement thedetent-lever arm may be readily locked into position by the locking-pawlwhen it is desired to hold the door closed, and the locking pawl beingthrown out of contact therewith the lever-arm may be vibrated to permitthe gradual opening of the door. The door may be stopped in any desiredposition by merely stopping the vibration of the lever-arm, and when thechain is being wound up to close the door the weight of the detent-leverarm will automatically throw the lower pallet into locking position andprevent the unwinding of the chain and the opening of the door.

I claimy l. In a dumping-car, the combination of a dumping-door,arotatable shaft provided with means for connecting it with thedumpingdoor, ratchet-wheel mechanism for such shaft, and pallet-levermechanism in engagement with the ratchet-wheel mechanism for stoppingthe dumping-door in any desired position and regulating'the openingthereof, substantially as described.

2. In a dumping-car, the combination of a dumping-door, a winding-shaftprovided with chain mechanism connected withthe dumping-door,ratchet-wheel mechanism mounted upon such shaft, mechanism for windingsuch shaft, and pallet-lever mechanism in engagement with theratchet-wheel mechanism of the shaft, substantially as described.

3. In a dumping-car, the combination of a dumping-door, a winding-shaftprovided with chain mechanism connected with the dumping-door,ratchet-wheel mechanism mounted upon such shaft, a winding-lever,pallet-lever mechanism vibratingly mounted in engagement with theratchet-wheel mechanism of the shaft and provided with an integraldetent-lever arm, and means for locking and releasing such detent-leverarm and thereby the shaft and dumping-door, substantially as described.

4. In a dumping-car, the combination of a pair of dumping-doors, awinding-shaft for each of such doors providedwith chain mechanism woundupon suchshaft and connected with the dumping-door, a pair ofratchetwheels mounted upon the end of each winding-shaft, awinding-lever rotatably mounted upon each of such shafts and providedwith a pawl in operative engagement with one of the ratchet-wheels, apallet-lever vibratingly mounted in engagement with the otherratchet-wheel and provided with an integral detent-lever arm, and meansfor locking such detent-lever-arm and thereby its shaft anddumping-door, substantially as described.

5. In a dumping-car, the combination of a plurality of dumping-doors,winding-shafts provided with chain mechanism connected with suchdumping-doors, a pair of ratchetwheels mounted upon the end of eachwinding-shaft, a winding-lever arm for each of such shafts, pallet-levermechanism vibratingly mounted adjacent to such shaft in engagement withone of the ratchet-wheels and provided with an integral detent-leverarm, and a locking-pawl for locking and releasing such detent-lever arm,substantially as described.

OTTO W. MEISSNER.

Witnesses:

HARRY I. CROMER, A. L. SAVOIE.

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